Growth Spurt
by Pearlynn
Summary: Keith didn't expect his time in the quantum abyss to make things so complicated. Quasi-Kallura one-shot.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron_

 _ **A/N** Hey did you know that I'm deliberately not working by writing and posting this stuff? Yeah, I don't care._

 _Also, I could have totally gone a different route with this but I think I need to lay off the M/E rated stories for now hahaha_

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"You know, Keith, you can change out of your paladin armor."

Keith looked up from the screen and blinked a few times, shocked to have missed both Hunk and Lance coming into the room. It seems he got carried away with charting their course again.

"I can always switch back into the Blades armor if that makes you more comfortable," he quipped as he looked back to the screen. There was some snickering from behind him and he turned to glare at them. "What?"

"You can't fit in your old clothes, can you?" Hunk asked with what Keith could only describe as a giggle.

He fought the flush at the spot-on observation and did his best not to confirm the suspicions of his fellow paladins. Unfortunately, his cheeks felt a little warm and he knew his eyes grew too wide to be considered normal. He was caught.

"I knew it!" Lance exclaimed as he mockingly pointed at Keith. "I knew you got bigger while you were gone!"

"It's not like I _tried_ to get taller!" Keith exclaimed in his own defense.

"What, was your shirt like a crop top?" Lance snickered as he bounded to Keith and ruffled his hair. "Then it'll match your jacket."

"Knock it off, Lance-"

"Or maybe you couldn't tuck your pants into your boots anymore," Hunk offered. "Lance, his jeans are high-waters now."

"Matches his mullet perfectly," Lance cooed with a chuckle. At Keith's pout, he added, "We're just messing with you, bud. I'm sure there's some clothes somewhere on Olkarion that would fit you."

Keith sniffed indignantly as he stood and marched past Lance and Hunk, ignoring their claims that they were just joking, and he made his way down the hall towards his makeshift room. When they finished their battle with Lotor and the Sincline ships, the team had decided they were going to return to Earth for the first time since they left in the Blue Lion in what felt like years ago. However, Shiro's condition seemed to worsen and Keith declared they needed to get him some real medical help, no matter how much Allura claimed she could take care of him.

She had already done so much, and the team was exhausted.

So they set a course to Olkarion, where they would rest and recoup before setting out to go back to Earth. In the meantime, Coran said he would work on creating a ship that would be able to carry him, Krolia, Romelle, and Shiro as well as everyone's belongings while the paladins flew their own lions. That way it wouldn't be as cramped in the cockpits. He even hoped to create a miniature teleduv that would be able to create a wormhole strong enough to send them to the Solar System and cut their travel time down immensely.

After all, Earth was galaxies away and even though the lions were quick fliers, it would take months or even years to get there without a wormhole.

Which brought Keith back to his current situation: none of his casual clothes fit anymore and he'd have to wear his paladin armor until they got back to Earth. When he returned from his mission with Krolia, he had expected time to have flowed the same for his friends. But when he stepped out of the old Altean carrier ship and onto the dock of the Castle of Lions, he saw that the other paladins had not aged a day since he last saw them.

In fact, the only thing that seemed to change was him.

Now, instead of standing a few inches shorter than Lance, he stood eye to eye with him. In fact, now he stood barely two inches shorter than Shiro. His shoulders and chest were broader, thighs thicker, and arms larger. Because of that, the clothes he wore during their downtime were considerably smaller. Lance wasn't far off when he asked if Keith's shirt was closer to a crop top. It only showed off his belly button and pulled too tight on his chest, but it was the same.

He couldn't even pull his pants up over his thighs to confirm Hunk's "high-waters" comment.

So he stayed in his paladin armor. Luckily for him, it adjusted to his body so even after the two-year difference in his body, it still fit like a glove. It was also impeccably clean, which he figured was Hunk's doing, so he told himself to thank the yellow paladin in regards to that later. After he found some clothes that fit him.

Keith slid into his room and shut the door behind him. He pulled all of the upper body pieces of his armor off and set them on the table, then went to the mirror that took up half of the wall next to his bed. The undershirt of the armor could easily be worn, but he didn't want to risk more of Lance's and Hunk's teasing at his lack of clothes.

Unfortunately, the Olkari wore clothes that weren't quite his... style. He knew that they would be more of a fuss than anything so he declined their offer.

He was stuck, really. His eyes went to where his old jacket was draped across the chair at the table, and he sighed. That jacket had been a gift from his father, for him to grow into, and he wore it constantly when he wasn't in uniform for the Garrison or if it was too hot. Even when it was too big, he wore it. It was almost the only thing he had left from his dad. Now, it was just a bit too snug across the shoulders and he couldn't quite lower his arms comfortably without risking a tear.

It seems his favorite jacket would no longer be an option for clothes.

He sighed and roughly pulled his hair into a makeshift ponytail. It was about time he stopped feeling sorry for himself and change his circumstance. His years living alone before Shiro came along and after he was kicked out of the Garrison taught him some skills with a needle and thread, so he could easily get some fabric from the Olkari and make up something that was more to his liking.

He would just need to find some black and red...

A knock on his door tore him from his thoughts and he quickly went to open it. Outside, with her hand hovering in the air to knock again, was Princess Allura. Her eyes had widened when he revealed himself, and they darted to his armor-less body and his tied back hair. He could literally see her swallow before tucking her hands behind her back. The bashful look on her face reminded him of when they ran off together.

He had to fight his own flush at the implications and his own conflicted feelings on the matter. "What's going on, Princess?"

Allura jumped and cleared her throat, then averted her eyes as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "N-nothing. Nothing at all. I was just coming to check on you. Lance said you stormed off and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Keith scoffed and replied, "I didn't _storm_ off. I... left. Abruptly. Because they were making fun of me."

Her expression suddenly turned sympathetic. "Oh, what for?"

He fought that flush again and rolled his jaw as he looked away. "My clothes don't fit anymore. They were giving me grief about it. All harmless, but it was getting a little irritating. So I left."

Allura's face fell and she took a hesitant step forward, crossing the threshold of his room and scooting in with him. "I'm sorry to hear that. I wish we had more time before, I could have grabbed you some of the old clothes we kept in the Castle. I'm sure I would have had something that would have fit you..."

Keith couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Allura, but I didn't think much of it until I was pulling my clothes out to change and couldn't pull my pants up all the way. There's nothing we could have done about it. I appreciate the thought, though."

Allura's eyes darted around his body, fixating on the broader chest and the larger arms, before sighing and saying, "I suppose you're right. There's no way you could have known that the time in the quantum abyss would have altered your physiology so much. After all, it feels like we just saw you a few weeks ago. It must have been much longer for you."

"Two years."

"Two years," Allura whispered with a nod. Her eyes were still on his chest. "And none of your clothes could be salvaged and worn again?"

He shook his head and reached over to grab his jacket. "Not even this and it was too big before."

Allura's fingers skimmed the material of the jacket, her face thoughtful, and she asked, "Will you throw it all away?"

A thought struck him, a crazy, out of nowhere idea, that would have made the Keith she knew before scream and run for cover. Instead, with two years of wisdom and reflection on his shoulders, Keith merely smiled and extended the jacket to her.

"Not all of it."

Allura met his eyes with an adorably curious expression. "Are you...? No, Keith, I cannot accept this. I know how important it is to you-"

"And that's why I want you to have it," he murmured. "You're important to me, too."

Her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of red and she gingerly took the jacket from him, their fingers grazing, and clutched it to her chest. "Th-thank you. I will treasure this gift."

His heart bloomed with warmth. "Great. Now, can you help me get some fabric and thread? I want to make something that I can wear until we get back to Earth. To shut up Lance and Hunk."

Allura smiled and led him out to the hallway while she pulled the jacket over her shoulders and threaded her arms into the sleeves. As her hair fell over the back of the jacket, almost obscuring it entirely, Keith felt that warmth flutter to his belly and threaten to make a wide grin spread across his cheeks.

That shade of red looked incredible on her.

* * *

 _fin._


End file.
